best laptop for a car

[blitz]

This may have been asked beforeif it has I appologise for not finding it.

What is the best laptop for a 4wd? it would have to be fairly small and robust to handle the jumps and bumps that happens of road. I want it for the GPS and I guess dvd capacity for the kids

Blythe

[The ho har's]

Go here this may help:D

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/communications-car-audio-electronics/68877-car-laptop.html


Mrs ho har:angel:

[jazzaD1]

i picked up a HP NC6000 from ebay for $360 buy it now price, i originally bought it to tune my megasquirt tables and it has been faultless, it is more robust than other model of the same year (2005ish) and was originally targeted to business clients (performance over looks)

i have dropped it numerous times and it still works fine, it gets covered in dust every time i take it out in the bush (once or twice a week) and is still yet to stuff up, i have been using it for about 6 months now

it has dvd functions and the performance is more than capable

im planning on building a removable shock proof mount for it eventually, but its not urgent

so i highly recommend this range of laptop, apparantly HP and Dell are the ones to choose if you want a tough laptop

i have had toshiba laptops in the past and IMO they arent built to the same quality

[Blknight.aus]

I usually use a PDA.. Id suggest that if your going to have it up and operating on the move that you get something in a tablet format so you dont run the risk of damaging the hinges or vibrating the ribbon that drives the screen to death.

[Bytemrk]

I think Blacknight is right, a tablet is definitely a good way to go.

I am running an Asus Eee PC 701(which is not a tablet).. but I have 2 reasons for my choice:

No1.. Right price - I got it very cheap on ebay

No2...It does not have a traditional harddrive - it is a solid state drive - This means no moving parts, and in an off road situation a significantly longer life.

The down size is that the drive is far smaller... but I only use it for a specific purpose.. and I can expand storage either through SD cards or external USB storage. ( I have a customised [read cut down really small;)] version of windows XP running on the 4Gig main drive and all my programs and Maps on an 8 Gig SD card )

Another really nice unit for PC based in car navigation is the Asus R2H

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=5&l2=25&l3=350&model=1205&modelmenu=1)


Lots of options out there...unfortunately most pc's well suited to in car Nav and GPS... don't do so well for the Kids DVD.... unless you have a separate screen - DVD on a little screen sux :mad:

Good luck with it,

Mark

[abaddonxi]

One with a matte screen.

Simon

[CaverD3]

I got a Dell Mini fits in upper glovebox.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/12/1016.jpg

Run it thru a touch screen

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/12/1017.jpg

Solid State Drive 16 gig but 32 gig are available for $100 US.
Have a GPS serial antenna in the upper brake light housing.
Speaks to stereo via its blue teeth.:D

[Ricey]

Interesting... CaverD3 - can you send music from the lappy to the stereo via bluetooth & if so is the quality better than an FM transmitter?

[CaverD3]

Sound quality seems better than via the headphone socket and Aux in in the stereo. :o :D

[Ricey]

Sound quality seems better than via the headphone socket and Aux in in the stereo. :o :D

You're a legend! This is the solution I've been looking for. :)

[CaverD3]

I have an after market head unit which also has blue teeth. As long as yours has that it should work.

[Ricey]

I'll be upgrading the stock unit to one that has bluetooth & pairing it with the Eee Pc. Also a benefit will be hands free mobile or even Skype over Next G for when my Optus Mobile is out of range.

[cripesamighty]

I bought a new MSI Wind with bluetooth and wireless built in. So far it has been brilliant. It also comes with a matte screen. The keyboard is also the best of the netbook bunch.

[blitz]

Hi all
readng what is here, I take it there is a smaller lap top than a lap top? A net book or note book? I have have a bit of a surf on the net and found several of them they mostly seem to be plastic frame not aluminium to save weight. Do any of you have first hand experience to know if they are still robust or not? I cant find any with dvd is this right or am I having a moment?

Cheers Blythe

[CaverD3]

The most robust ones will be the ones with a solid state drive.
None of them have DVD drives (they are too small) you can get USB dvd drive or convert them to DivX and play via a flash drive.

[disco_potter]

Good morning. Came across this on-line a while ago for Apple Mac users. Someone from the US installing a Mac Mini in the glove-box of a Series II Disco. 123Macmini.com - Mac Mini News - When Mac Mini Met Land Rover (http://www.123macmini.com/news/story/15.html) Of use? I agree that getting a solid state drive would great improve performance and stability when off-roading. Makes me wonder why LR continue to use DVD for the SatNav data - with current technology a plug in CF or SD card with the data on would be much more effective and, for manufacture, probably a lot cheaper than installing a DVD reader! Good luck with your choice and let us know how the installation goes (especially with pictures!)

[blitz]

Ok so it sounds like what I want isnt actually made? thats cool the littly has a portable dvd player so that answers that question. It would double up as the take away work computer as I do a bit of traveling and this lap top although very handy is bigger than I would like.

Does anyone know if they come with a incar mounting bracket?

Cheers Blythe

[Distortion]

I've been looking into a new laptop for running the GPS on the boat and 4x4
so it had to survive water and being bashed about

my solution was getting a refurbished CF-18 Toughbook off flea bay
Toughbook CF-18 Digitzer Computer [CF-18D] - Panasonic Australia (http://www.panasonic.com.au/products/details.cfm?objectID=2776)

Sealed unit with no fans it's got water proofing etc
It also has a touch screen which can be turned around


Rob

[stig0000]

I've been looking into a new laptop for running the GPS on the boat and 4x4
so it had to survive water and being bashed about

my solution was getting a refurbished CF-18 Toughbook off flea bay
Toughbook CF-18 Digitzer Computer [CF-18D] - Panasonic Australia (http://www.panasonic.com.au/products/details.cfm?objectID=2776)

Sealed unit with no fans it's got water proofing etc
It also has a touch screen which can be turned around


Rob
they the laptops land rover uses for IDS, they "SAY" that we can drive over it, wet it,, drop it, an it will be fine, but they wont let us have ago at it, all tho we have had one "fall" :wasntme: off a ramp jacked all the way up,, an it was fine,:D so they must be prity strong,, but the perfomance is like using a intel P1 again, god they are slow, allways locking up,:mad::mad:,

[Distortion]

yeah It's certainly slow but it's not going to be used as the main computer in the house. The job is currently filled by an old 486 thinkpad so even a p1 would be faster :D

[PaulP38a]

Ok so it sounds like what I want isnt actually made? thats cool the littly has a portable dvd player so that answers that question. It would double up as the take away work computer as I do a bit of traveling and this lap top although very handy is bigger than I would like.

Does anyone know if they come with a incar mounting bracket?

Cheers Blythe

For the car I use an Acer Aspire One (XP, 1GB RAM and 120GB HDD) and a car mount I found on eBay. Next time I have it set up I will take a pic.

The bracket has a suction mount on the windscreen and foot pad that sits on the dash. For extra cushioning, I taped some foam on the bottom of the clamps that just touch the dash. An in-car charger that plugs in to the cigarette lighter supplies the power.

The laptop also doubles as a diagnostic tool, running EASunlock software should the air suspension have a wobbly, and will also plug in to the Faultmate SV (when I can afford it).

As for the hard drive, I'm not overly concerned as the laptop cost less than $600 and a replacement drive is only around $100 if it breaks. Of course, I will totally void the warranty on the laptop if I replaced it myself.

A bluetooth dongle from eBay (approx $30) and a bluetooth GPS reciever let the OziExplorer s/w tell me where I am/was/going to.

If you want to watch a DVD, there are a few options:


get an external USB connected DVD driver, approx $100
on another PC, rip the DVD to an ISO file using your favourite ripping software. copy the file to the car PC (wireless LAN, flash drive etc) then playback using VLC. You can also mount the DVD as a virtual CD/DVD drive letter using Daemon Tools
on another PC, rip the DVD and convert it to DivX or WMV. Playback on the car PC using VLC or Windows Media Player

If your car stereo has an audio input jack on the front panel, this is the easiest way to get music/movie audio from the PC via the 3.5mm headphone-out jack.

I also have the Linux/SSD version of the Acer Aspire One which would be a good candidate for the car if there was a Linux version of OziExplorer or similar mapping software.

side note: One of the blokes in the 4WD club I'm in puts his laptop on the back seat and has a second mirror to see the screen. As you might guess, he sometimes makes a wrong turn :D